{"id":14052,"date":"2021-02-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/23-02-2021\/conclusive-land-titling\/"},"modified":"2021-02-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T00:00:00","slug":"conclusive-land-titling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-02-2021\/conclusive-land-titling","title":{"rendered":"Conclusive Land Titling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In Context- <\/strong>The Centre wants to reform the <strong>country\u2019s land markets<\/strong> through a <strong>fundamental legal <\/strong>and <strong>procedural shift<\/strong> in <strong>how land titles are awarded.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>More in News<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0In 2020, the NITI Aayog took steps to initiate land reforms.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0A <strong>Model Bill on Conclusive Land Titling <\/strong>was sent to States and Union Territories last June seeking their comments.\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0In September, after many States failed to send in their feedback, the Centre warned that their agreement would be presumed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>About Land Titling<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a form of <strong>land reform in which private individuals<\/strong> and<strong> families are given formal<\/strong> <strong>property rights for land <\/strong>which they have <strong>previously occupied informally or used on the basis of customary land tenure<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Present System<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India currently follows a <strong>system of presumptive land titling <\/strong>which means that <strong>land records are maintained,<\/strong> with <strong>information on possession,<\/strong> that is <strong>determined through details<\/strong> of <strong>past transactions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ownership <\/strong>is established on the basis of <strong>current possession<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Registration of land is <strong>actually a registration of transactions, <\/strong>such as<strong> sale deeds,<\/strong> <strong>records of inheritance, mortgage and lease. <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Holding <strong>registration papers does not actually involve<\/strong> the <strong>government or the legal framework guaranteeing <\/strong>the <strong>ownership title of the land.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is Conclusive Land Titling?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In this system, the <strong>government provides guaranteed titles<\/strong> and <strong>compensation in case of any ownership disputes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Under a conclusive land titling system, land records <strong>designate actual ownership.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0The title is <strong>granted by the government<\/strong>, which takes the <strong>responsibility for accuracy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Once a title is granted, <strong>any other claimant will have to settle disputes<\/strong> with the government, not the titleholder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Model Bill on Conclusive Land Titling<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill circulated by the NITI Aayog in 2020 calls for <strong>Land Authorities<\/strong> to be set up by each <strong>State government,<\/strong> which will <strong>appoint a Title Registration Officer (TRO) <\/strong>to <strong>prepare and publish <\/strong>a draft list of land titles based on <strong>existing records and documents. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>This will be considered a <strong>valid notice to all potential claimants<\/strong> interested in the property, <strong>who will have to file their claims <\/strong>or <strong>objections within a set period of time.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>If disputing claims are received, the <strong>TRO will verify all the relevant documents<\/strong> and refer the case to a<strong> Land Dispute Resolution Officer (LDRO) f<\/strong>or resolution.\n<ul>\n<li>However,<strong> disputes <\/strong>which are already <strong>pending in courts <\/strong>cannot be resolved in this way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Having considered and resolved all the disputed claims, the Land Authority will publish a Record of Titles.<\/li>\n<li>Over a <strong>three-year period<\/strong>, t<strong>hese titles and the decisions of the TRO<\/strong> and the LDRO can be challenged before <strong>Land Titling Appellate Tribunals,<\/strong> which will be set up under the law.<\/li>\n<li>After a three-year period, entries in the Record of Titles will be considered conclusive proof of ownership. Further appeals can only be taken up in High Courts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Significance \/Need<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The lower litigation<\/strong>-The conclusive system will drastically <strong>lower litigation<\/strong> related to land.\n<ul>\n<li>According to a <strong>2007 World Bank study on \u2018Land Policies <\/strong>for <strong>growth and poverty reduction, land-related disputes <\/strong>accounted for<strong> two-thirds of all pending court cases <\/strong>in India.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0A <strong>NITI Aayog study <\/strong>on <strong>strengthening arbitration<\/strong> estimated that <strong>disputes on land<\/strong> or <strong>real estate take an average time of 20 years<\/strong> in the courts to be resolved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Risk Mitigation: <\/strong>Once conclusive titling is in place, i<strong>nvestors who want to purchase <\/strong>land for business a<strong>ctivities will be able to do so<\/strong> <strong>without facing the constant risk<\/strong> that their owners may be questioned and <strong>their entire investment may go to waste.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Avoids costly delays and inefficiency<\/strong>: <strong>Land disputes <\/strong>and <strong>unclear titling also create hurdles <\/strong>for <strong>infrastructure development <\/strong>and <strong>housing construction<\/strong>, <strong>leading to costly delays and inefficiency<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reduction in Ambiguity: <\/strong>Right now, because land titles are based on transactions, people have to keep the entire chain of transaction records, and a dispute on any link in that chain causes ambiguity in ownership.\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>Ambiguity in ownership also results in a black market for land transactions, which deprives the government of taxes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Land records <strong>have not been updated<\/strong> for <strong>decades<\/strong>, especially in <strong>rural and semi-urban areas.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Land records are often in the name of th<strong>e grandparents of the current owner,<\/strong> with no <strong>proof of inheritance.<\/strong> Unless they are based on updated records, conclusive land titles could create <strong>even more problems,\u201d <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>However, local governments have not been provided with the resources or manpower to conduct such surveys.\n<ul>\n<li>If surveys are not conducted, the onus falls on village claimants, many of whom have no access to documentation, to proactively challenge the titling during the three-year period.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Comprehensive village-level surveys <\/strong>with community involvement are a necessary precursor to the land titling process.\n<ul>\n<li>Relying on current records or even satellite imagery will not provide the same accuracy as actual, on-the-ground, local surveys.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>However, adopting a conclusive system of <strong>titling will require undertaking several measures. <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>All <strong>existing land records<\/strong> will have to be updated to ensure that<strong> they are free of any encumbrances<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00a0Information on land records,<\/strong> which is <strong>currently spread across multiple<\/strong> departments, <strong>will have to be consolidated. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Further,<strong> several changes in existing laws<\/strong> that <strong>govern registration<\/strong> and <strong>transfer of land,<\/strong> and institutional changes in the maintenance of land records will also have to be done.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/the-hindu-explains-why-does-india-need-conclusive-land-titling\/article33891718.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source :TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Context- The Centre wants to reform the country\u2019s land markets through a fundamental legal and procedural shift in how land titles are awarded. More in News \u00a0In 2020, the NITI Aayog took steps to initiate land reforms. \u00a0A Model Bill on Conclusive Land Titling was sent to States and Union Territories last June seeking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/7326001current-affairs (1).jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}